Quantitative Methods for Food Systems Research
Chris Donovan
Food Systems Data Scientist
Food Systems Research Institute
November 5, 2025
Quantitative Methods
What are they good for
What are they not good for
Standard toolkit
Regression and friends
building on that
directed acyclic graphs
structural equation model
system modeling:
fuzzy cognitive mapping
agent-based
system dynamics
bayesian methods
Intervale Farm, Sally McCay, UVM Photo
(Mis-)Interpreting Quantitative Results
P Values
Confounders
Confidence Intervals
Effect Size
Data Visualization
What does a p-value mean?
(
Anderson 2020
)
Should be smaller
Intervale Farm, Sally McCay, UVM Photo
Berksen’s paradox
Image of a DAG, chain collider